Specks Notes

v Episode 1

Ø Meet up (Thousand Cities of Ishtah)

Ø Accept to protect a merchant, Half-Elf, with Shimmer

Ø Walk walk walk

Ø Decide to place ourselves for the night

Ø Get attacked

§ Peeps in the woods (4?)

§ Shyn took damage, then hid

§ Thorralien died 3 times

§ Cheryl saved Thorralien 3 times (she was under the wagon)

§ Kylie tried, ended up kicking butts with Thorralien as support

§ Tiku was shooting the far away one

§ The merchant was hiding

§ I was jolting from where the horses were

§ Shimmer did something

§ Wereshark came out of the sea to tell us to staph

·        Shimmer kidnapped

·        Cheryl and I saw it! Tiku too apparently

Ø The ffff?

Ø We win

Ø We raced off to the closest town

Ø Bye bye Shimmer

Ø We got to town

v Episode 2

Ø We slept in an inn

Ø Everyone goes their own way in the morning

§ I watch over Thorralien doing his usual bs

§ Tiku went hunting

§ Cheryl played music

§ Kylie found a cleric  (O.O?)

§ Shyn tried to be a drow and failed

Ø Thorralien orders beer for everyone

§ HEY WE’RE LOOKING FOR A SHARK PERSON! BEER FOR EVERYONE!

§ The bartender is like SHHHHHHHHH OAO and pretends that he doesn’t know

§ I give him my prettiest smile

·        The bartender gestures us towards a guy in the corner who looks like a shark

·        Oooooooh!

·        Yeeeeeeeeeeeep

·        I nudge Thorralien, but Thorralien is already gone

·        O3O

§ I look for Thorralien

§ And goddamnit

§ Thorralien is next to the wereshark guy

·        HEYYYYYYYY, WHAT ABOUT THEM WERESHARKS?

·        I don’t fucking know, get away mate

·        NOOOOOPE, I know you know.

·         *throws him through the window without even letting him the time to speak (how rude)*

·        The wereshark comes back in

¨      Others are coming back from their own business (Tiku, Kylie, Cleric) and see the f-ing wereshark being thrown out of the window and rushing back in

·        Wereshark goes to Thorralien, his mates are like ‘’YOU GO WERESHARK! KILL THE HUMAN!’’ (nope, he’s forever alone, nevermind that) Alright, the drunks around are like ‘our bud is fighting, actually, our bully is fighting, let’s help him because we’re drunk and don’t think’.

·        Tiku, Kylie, Cleric walk in. ‘’WTF??????’’

¨      A ranger, a paladin and a cleric walk into a bar.

¨      Fight fight fight!

¨      Shyn gets in at some point

¨      We fight the 6 drunks, while Thorralien fights the wereshark

¨      2 drunks are killed

¨      The Wereshark is KOed

¨      4 drunks escape and go get the cops

·        Thorralien brings the wereshark in our room

·        Tiku intimidates her way, with mi help (okay, I did), to cook in the kitchen her bunbuns. Cheryl plays music at the same time.

¨      Cops show up, Tiku goes ‘’Yeeeeeeah, they ran away. I’m just a cook. You want bunbuns?’’

¨      Cheryl is like, yup, what she said

¨      Cops go hmhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, okay

·        Interrogation of the wereshark using strength and mi intimidation

¨      ‘’I am tough and will not taaaalk!’’

¨      Tiku comes back with warm stuff and burns the guy

¨      We end up discovering that Shimmer is a dargon, that he was taken to a remote island, that we know nothing of reality

·        Wereshark tries to escape

¨      Thorralien blocks the exit

¨      We all jump on him and kill him (oups)

¨      He had a tiny magic boat!

·        Explaination of what today was

¨      Kylie met up with the cleric, because mayor was a piece of shit

¨      Cleric explained his all mightiness whatever at some point

¨      He was investigating the shark business

¨      So he decided to help us!

¨      He also mentions the dargonislandthingy

¨       #

·        Thorralien brings the body out and I follow, others stay in the inn for the night

·        We meet up outside of town in the morning with the merchant

·        We tell the merchant that we will be back, he just has to wait in town

·        The merchant is like …the f- mates? But accepts

·        Off we go to the water

v Episode 3

‘‘Where’s Simbad?’’ asked Thorralien to Shimmer.

I was trailing off behind the group when I heard voices echo upstairs. Most had arrived already, but they seemed to have waited for the barbarian to inquire about a missing party member. I quickly rushed to the main floor, only to see Shimmer shake his head and explain that he had no idea.

‘‘We were waiting upstairs, like you asked, when he said that he had something to do and he just walked off. He didn’t say where he was going, nor why, so I did nothing of it.’’

I didn’t even had to take a look at Thorralien to feel him crisp a tad and sigh in despair. This mission wasn’t really going as planned, and we had a certain load of questions for the dwarf. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Kylie, still somewhat affected by the destruction of her defenses and weaponry, she seemed resigned to waiting. Soon, her energy spread to the other party members and we decided to set up for the night; everyone in the living room. This conclusion seemed to come without a need for any precise explanation; the bogeyman was still observing us from outside, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and it was too dangerous to just walk out and try to reach the next town. From what I understood, we were bound to be safe, as long as no one invited the fey inside. So I guess it’s nice that bogeymen have a certain, respect of the personal space rules? We pulled out our bedrolls, gave the broken swords and shield to Cheryl, so she could start mending them, and light up a fire. From the window, we could see that night was starting to fall, but we still had the time to sneak around a tad and prepare a proper dinner.

As usual, the group spread around. Shyntlara and Kylie started inspecting the books in the shelves, Thorralien started inspecting the room and the surroundings, perhaps looking for the bogeyman, I don’t really know, Tikuris started cooking, and Cheryl simply mended. On my side, I simply took the map written in celestial characters and tried to decipher. Not really an easy task, per se. After a while, I finally caught on; the map was written on in another language, as simple as that. Obviously, the characters were my own, but the reader has to speak two tongues to understand it. I am still not sure of which language was used during the writing of these notes on the map, but I eventually got to understand a few. They were notes on the locations marked down on the map, as well as different weapons I believe, and were indicating that someone was after the otherworldly abilities of the different artifacts. On the right corner of the map as marked an island with ‘‘roost’’ written on it, as if someone was looking for a nest. Perhaps the real dragon nest, I can’t be sure. The most frustrating part was what is written under Aetherius. For some unknown reason, I just wasn’t able to translate it and it frustrated me to no end. As for Shimmer, I was about to forget this little Halfling, he did his Shimmer business. We walked around, observed, spoke to others. Nothing really abnormal.

Soon, the sun had set, we had settled for dinner and filled our stomachs. Simbad was still nowhere to be seen, so we decided to go with it and wait for him to come back whenever. During this meeting period, we looked at the map. I explained what I had been able to translate to everyone and we decided to head to Tafled, in Gorith, by passing north to Drovanesti. That means goblin territory, but at least everyone seemed okay with it. We’d be leaving at dawn.

The meeting was adjourned and everyone took their places to sleep. I settled next to Thorralien as Tikuris took position for the first watch. At this point we didn’t have to ask anymore, it just seemed obvious that the night would go with Tiku, Shyn and then, Thorralien. I had sent a glance towards the barbarian, in hope to get the right to help out and take a watch as well, but I guess it’s not something I can do. He just sent me a quick cold glance and the matter was settled. So as the night started, I found shelter under my warm blanket and found sleep in no time. I guess I must have been really tired, because I didn’t wake up again of the entire night.

***

At dawn as I woken up with a start. Everywhere in the house echoed the loud bells of a gigantic clock with no physical shape. Everyone jumped on their feet and observed the building in confusion. I glanced at Thorralien to realize that he had almost pulled out his sword to attack the damn thing. A small smirk formed on my lips, I guess it was a scare jump for him too after all. I took a deep breath and kneeled down to start folding and rolling my blanket; we had to cover as much distance as possible before nightfall, today. In the corner of the room, the human was observing us all, he seemed rather hesitant and distant compared to his usual behaviour. It took me a while, but when I looked up, I realized that he was trying to say something.

‘‘Hm.. how to say this..?’’ he started, ‘‘there’s something outside that I think you guys should see.’’

I stood up and quickly headed towards the main door, since he was indicating that direction with his shoulder and uneased glance.

‘‘Not you Eilu---’’

I sent a quick glance over my shoulder towards the human, but he seemed to have abandoned his attempt to stop me. Next to him, Shyntlara was observing the entire crew walk on as if she knew what we were about to discover. She had a semi-upset expression that didn’t truly fit her. I questioned this complicity for a second, but made nothing of it, perhaps something had happened during her watch—but what? In no time, the rest crew had reached the door and was observing outside through the window.

‘‘Can someone lift me up? I can’t see.’’ I looked down at Cheryl and nodded, taking her in my arms to bring her that the level of the window and enable her to see outside. Truth is that at that point I hadn’t seen what Thorralien was referring to at all, it just took me a few additional seconds.

‘‘Oh my-’’ I whispered, when I realized.

‘‘I told you not to look,’’ sighed the barbarian, as I slowly placed the Halfling on the ground, to be able to think. This wasn’t possible, I tried to tell myself. Outside, hanged to Solinari knows what, Simbad was slowly being balanced by the wind in a constant and repetitive way. I had seen death many times before, but this time the death of one of my companions really struck me hard. I took a few steps back and kneeled down. Why was Simbad outside and in such a position? Why had he left us the night before, while he clearly knew that there was a bogeyman walking around? Why had we heard nothing?

On their side, the other members of the crew were discussing what to do. According to them, Simbad deserved a proper burial, but should also be killed again, just to make sure that he wouldn’t be brought back to life. He should be put underground in a proper grave, while truly, people were supposed to be burnt in order to have a proper ceremony. Nothing was making sense. Eventually, the team agreed to pack up and get ready to leave, they’d just have to dig a grave quickly and they’d be done. Disgusted by the idea, I nudged Cheryl and we decided to go explore the cave one last time before leaving, just to be sure that we hadn’t forgotten anything.

Luck wasn’t on our side. As we went through the books and objects stored in the cave, we barely found anything useful. Stuck between books of alchemy, I found the only relevant work; notes written in the weird mixt of celestial and another language. Perhaps with more content, I’d end up being able to translate the entire map and help the quest some more.

Empty handed, Cheryl and I walked back upstairs and joined the group. To my surprise, Kylie had dug a small grave and Shyntlara was helping to prepare the body of the dead for his last journey. Sitting in the stairs, Thorralien was observing the whole scene. Gripped tightly to the back of the barbarian, the spear with an evil aura was currently facing me. Clearly, it had just been used because a small amount of blood was tainting the weapon. Forgetting the entire situation around me, I took a deep breath and grabbed the spear. I used all the strength my noodle arms could offer me and attempted to pull it away from my travelling partner. Really, one shouldn’t play with evil forces.

Obviously, Thorralien quickly felt my sneaky attacked and pulled on the spear, so it would stay on his back. By doing so, the barbarian threw off my balance and I simply ended up face first of the floor. I sighed and pushed myself up back on my knees, ‘‘You shouldn’t keep an evil object so carelessly, we don’t know what it could do.’’

‘‘Oy, it’s a nice weapon and I’m curious about it, so I keep it.’’

I rolled my eyes and observed the group one last time; we were ready to go. Simbad was quickly put underground and covered, and off we went. Travelling up north would be quite an adventure; we just had to be really careful with the enemies we could meet.

***

We walked throughout the entire day, stopping only now and again to eat and drink. There wasn’t much else to do, we had to get as far away as possible from the bogeyman’s territory or else, at nightfall, we would be stuck with the fey at full potential. Considering that he was probably the one who was killed Simbad, we had concluded that he clearly wasn’t a being to try to interact with; he’d probably outsmart and defeat us all.

At some point during the day, Tikuris decided to walk next to me. Since it was an unusual behaviour, I looked at her with a weird frown and asked her what she was doing there.

‘‘I wanted to inform you about something that you’ll most probably judge important,’’  she explained, while sending a few glances at the other party members; as if to make sure that they weren’t listening. ‘‘Do you know why Shyntlara wasn’t surprised when she saw Simbad hanging outside, from the window?’’

I shook my head in reply, as a frown started appearing on my face.

‘‘It’s because Thorralien woke her up during the night to inform her of the matter. The body was noticed during his watch, at the end of the night. Shyn would have noticed it faster than that, so I’m guessing our murderer was active in the really early hours of the day. The barbarian didn’t really have any reason to wake up Shyn, but he probably thought that she would grant him the best advice,’’ a small smirk appeared on the lips of the elf as she started retreating, ‘‘just thought that you had the right to know.’’

And with that Tikuris was back by Shyntlara’s side and I was left to wonder. In front of me, Thorralien hadn’t heard a single thing of this little conversation and was still walking carelessly. I guess I wasn’t really worth of his trust anymore. Obviously, next to a rogue drow of 6’4’’ I could only make a poor impression. She knew how to fight, how to impose herself, how to be heard; everything a good warrior would normally know. I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes, this wasn’t relevant; Thorralien had made a wise choice. That’s what leaders do, make good decisions. They look at their men, in this case women actually, and find everyone’s strength. There is nothing to be mad about.. there is nothing to be upset about..

And so the day went on. We walked across the country, heading north towards the always more dense forest.

***

After hours upon hours of walking in the always so similar woods, the chain of trees came to a rough end. One second we were surrounded by the forest, the next, we were in a plain that went on forever. ''It’s really all or nothing around here, couldn’t we just get a normal landscape, like in Gorith? Forest and plains, but also mountains and towns. There’s a bit of change everywhere you look.''

A hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me out of my thoughts. “Don’t go so far.” I turned around, surprised, only to realize that everyone had already stopped walking and was trying to consider the best path to take to not attract too much attention on us. In a quick move, I removed my shoulder from Thorralien’s grip and stepped aside. I sat down in the grass and waited for our leader to take a decision. After all, mister barbarian knew everything over everything and everyone had to always listen to his wonderful ideas.

Oh look, he was also asking Shyn’s opinion. I silently growled and turned my back on the group, this was seriously turning into a joke; if you love someone just tell them. Especially when it’s as obvious as what was going on between the drow and Thorralien.

I pulled out the map out of my bag and started observing it. If we were to ever reach the symbol, we had to keep going north; we were far too close from Droviesti to try to head East just yet. “I guess we’ll keep going north then.” I jumped in surprise and looked up to notice that Tikuris had joined my observation of the map. “Yep,” I replied, “if we’re not too lost, we should be around here right.” While mentioning our location, I pointed towards a zone that seemed to be both in Vulug’s territory and Drovinesti. There wasn’t much to calculate our location from, but we had passed near a gigantic lac, in the morning, so we probably were still quite close to it.

- get to the end of the forest

- get to the tower with 3 goblins in

- fight between eiluvial and thorralien

- 2 goblins killed by tiku, 1 escapes

- settle in the tower

- get surrounded by the goblins

- refuse to surrender

- 14 arrows in thorralien

- kylie heals thorralien

- tiku shoots arrows, I glitterdust, kylie attempts to get outside and fight

- thorralien tries to go out again and eats more arrows, tiku takes some damage as well

- we end up surrendering

- Cheryl disguises herself as a goblin and follows the group, I just hide

- the group is led by the goblins to a village, I follow sneakily

- I pick up some clothes from dead goblins and try to cover my skin and hair

- I sneak around the village, end up getting in the main tent

- leader is talking to the group of friends, thorralien asks to fight for his freedom and honor, thorralien fights a first warrior and wins somehow, everyone is brought in cages for the night

- I follow and ask what to do

- thorralien says that they’ll remain hostage for the night and see how things go

- Cheryl sneaks around for information while I just fall asleep in an alley, watching over my friends

- wake up in the morning when agitation starts building up around the village

- I follow the commotion by observation

- Cheryl positions herself in the main tent, Kylie is brought to fight in the main tent

- Kylie kills her opponent

- Kylie is brought back and Thorralien is taken out

- Panic moment

- Shyn is also brought to the tent where she and thorralien are asked to fight

- Thorralien is ready to start the fight

- I notice a huge bat

- The drow stops the fights, asks to buy Shyn and kills the chief who weirdly enough starts making out with his sword

- we escape in the commotion

- thorralien tells me to run to the tower and we’ll join later

- I run for my life

- I get in the tower first and wait

- the group eventually arrives and I jump at thorralien in relief

- we take our breath back and decide to start walking again, the drow will be following us

“We should set camp for the night,” mentioned Thorralien.

I couldn’t help but agree to that remark. The day had been quite long and it was about time for the members of the group to get some rest. I, for one, could feel the throbbing of my legs at each and every single step I took. The pain was becoming overbearing. Obviously, after a few days in the wild you get used to the regular walking and non-resting everyday schedule of travelers. Well, most of the time. Some days, for some odd reasons, your body just decided that it has enough and that this day would be a pain. On those occasions, you’d wake up with a headache perhaps, sometimes muscular pain, it depends. But no matter the ill that struck you, it made the day hard to get through.

Surprisingly enough, it seemed that seeing your friends become hostages of pathetic goblins, stressing about their chances of survival throughout the night, attending intensive fights in the ring throughout which your friends might lose their life, seeing a drow come out of the blue and kill the leader of the tribe before running of for your life, and so on, weren’t really good for your body.

I sent a quick glance at the barbarian opening the path alongside with the paladin and sighed. The drow would find us before long, especially if he was looking, for some really odd reason, for Shynthlara. It wouldn’t take long before his bat tracked us and then we’d be in real trouble. Fighting against that guy was impossible, he’d crush us to bits in no time really. So I guess it was simply a question of trying to distance ourselves from him right now, perhaps get strong enough to fight him by the time he caught up.

But who was I kidding?

In the horizon the sun had started to set long ago, right now it was simply coloring the sky of a large variety of shades of pink and orange, indicating sun in the morning. Soon these wonderful colours would let their place to the dark blue hues and shades of the night brightened by the small glitter of the stars, like thousands of fireflies.

As usual, the group side tracked from the main path to get into a thicker part of the woods. We soon would run out of forest and trees to set camp during the night and would sleep under the soft light of the moon. It’d be strange after so many nights spent under the shelter of the trees and covered in the warm halo of the fire light up so Thorralien and the other non-darkvision adapted people could actually see something. But for now, we had to enjoy what we had. Perhaps we wouldn’t see tomorrow, you never know.

We chose a small area surrounded by large trees, to place our camp. From that point on, we followed the normal routine of tent setting, wood gathering, fire sparking, food cooking, and all of that. Before long, we were ready to head to sleep and everyone parted way in their own spots, either tents or ground, under the careful watch of Tikuris.

Always the first watch to the elf with low-light vision. Then would come the drow and finally, Thorralien. I was always afraid of something popping out of the woods during the night and killing the barbarian without anybody noticing, but he kept reassuring me; “Stop being scared of everything. If we’re attacked during the night, the point of someone keeping watch is to wake up the others so we can fight it off. And anyways, we’re stronger than most of the creatures hiding in these woods; heck I used to slain giants. No one will die in a goblin territory.”

***

-we are attacked during the night by drakes

- we sorta don’t wake up fast

- kylie is putting her armor on

- we fight and the drakes seem to be focusing on tiku a lot

- acid splash and tiku dies

- I freeze the last drake as painfully as I can, freeze his nerves and blabla until he dies in agony

- in shock moment

- I braid tiku’s hair and get her ready for proper death ceremony

- thorralien and I light a fire and burn her away after I took a small chop of her hair

- I watch over the fire and body through the night

- in the morning we start walking again, everyone is really quiet

- in the corner of my eye, I see a weird white horse-like shape follow us through the day

- we reach a temple by the end of the afternoon

- the temple is weirdly enough in a really good state, there’s a fountain in the middle and the entire area seems really calm and peaceful

- we touch the water and it heals our wounds

- shyn puts some of the water in a jar

- I go in a corner and fall asleep

- I wake up to a commotion

- Thorralien is standing next to a unicorn, people are fighting around

- explaination: Shyn went to explore, saw a dark shape, came back in and informed the group, Thorralien went to see, he called out the drow, the drow showed up, they fought, the unicorn saved thorralien at the last second, the unicorn says that we’re not strong enough yet to fight the drow

- the unicorn says that we’re safe for the night, protected by the temple, we’ll be teleported in the morning near the tower of magic

- the unicorn leaves to let us rest

- I cling to thorralien and sleep in his arms

- in the morning, the unicorn appears with a large gash, thanks to the drow

- we are teleported near the frontier

- we walk in one direction until the forest suddenly stop and leaves place to mud-like stuff

- we try to get through, yeah nope. Thorralien throws Cheryl, the shield, thorralien tries to swim

- Cheryl eventually wander off and we follow

- we end up seeing a troll on an invisible bridge that might lead to the tower

- the troll says that visitors weren’t expected before 3 days, that we were supposed to be 6, so thorralien and him agree that the first one to lend a hit wins, and so he’d let us pass

- he lied

- we fight against him (somewhere, thorralien falls in the liquid)

- we kill him

- we push him in the liquid stuff

- a servant runs to great us, like oh sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen!

- she leads us to the tower

- brings us to the main office of the director with the elevator

- director presentation and discussion

- map, wizard we met, necromancy, moving on, ring, spear, tiara, y u a drow, monocle

“Do you have any other questions?”

I frowned and tried to scan my head, looking for any additional interrogations. Obviously, none came to my mind so I just sighed and shook my head. Next to me, I soon realized that the other members of my crew were doing the same.

“Then I guess I will see you later this evening; well Thorralien and Eiluvial.”

I nodded as a small smirk formed on my lips, I couldn’t wait to see the monocle in action! Gorith didn’t have such technology hidden anywhere in its territory, so I had to grab any possible given occasion to take a look at those marvelous magical creations. In my excitement, I had started dancing lightly in apprehension, a gesture soon calmed by Thorralien’s firm grip on my arm. Brought out of my bubble of pure happiness, I sent the barbarian a confused look, only to realize that he was softly tugging me towards the exit of the room. I slightly blushed in embarrassment and followed my group outside the office; what would the old wizard think of such a hyped and knowledge-less sorceress?

As Thorralien finally stepped out of the wizard’s office, the doors closed behind him and a small cloud of purple smoke formed in front of our party. As first confused, I observed the mist slowly clog up to take the shape of an individual of average height. The man observed our group’s member one by one before stating the reason of his appearance; I guess he was expecting us to speak first, but we failed at fulfilling that task: “Is there anything you would wish to do, during the afternoon?”

I bite my lower lip and sent a quick glance at the party. From their expressions, I soon guessed that they had plans, hurray me for not planning ahead of time. A short pause followed the inquiry, soon broken by Thorralien.

“I would like to see where my spear was taken.”

“I would like to go to the library,” added Kylie.

“As for me, I would like to see the progress made on my ring,” stated Shyntlara.

“Is there anywhere I could play the mandolin?” completed Cheryl with a small smirk.

After this small handful of replies, to which the butler always nodded respectfully, I awaited an additional comment: “Is there anywhere where I could cook my bunbuns?” I should have remembered that this sentence wouldn’t cause Thorralien to roll his eyes anymore, for Shyntlara to sigh, or simply to make me wonder how in the bloody hell could anyone enjoy rabbit stew that much. I clenched my fists slightly, it wasn’t time to cry over that anymore, the dead are a thing from the past and Tikuris wouldn’t come back. Feeling my heart tighten again, I gave the butler my reply: “I think I’ll go take a nap.” I really needed some time alone, if just for an hour or two.

“Very well,” started the butler, “please follow me.” He asked as he opened the path through the numerous hallways of the magical tower. “The spear is currently being examined at the lower levels of the tower. The library is opened to all students at anytime of the day, feel free to ask for some help in your research. The ring will be found at the lower levels as well, please follow me. For the mandolin, I can either show you the path to a room or guide you to the cafeteria. And at last, I’ll show you your room right away, sorceress, would you kindly take the next left and follow me?”

I slightly started nodding when I realized that the cloud butler was starting to divide himself into two identical beings. Thorralien and I exchanged a glance before I engaged into a left turn and separated myself from the group. The smaller than usual party kept walking straight and before long disappeared from my sight; I was now alone with a small purple cloud.

“So--” I shyly attempted, “how will we know when the time comes to get back to the headmaster for the meeting?”

“[insert name] will call you over whenever the time comes.”

“A-alright, thanks.”

“No problem sorceress.”

After that small exchange, the butler quieted down again and kept ‘walking’ at a steady pace. Before long, we had climbed down a certain amount of stairs and walked through a few hallways. In front of us was a series of doors, each leading to dorms I presume? The butler stopped dryly on his track in front of one of the wooden entrances and turned the doorknob.

“This is your room, sorceress. Is there anything else you would need my assistance for?”

I frowned for a second, thinking about anything I would need, but soon shook my head in reply. I thanked the butler and walked in my room, all I needed was time alone. The cloud of smoke nodded in agreement and disappeared soon after.

I was finally alone.

I took a deep breath and walked to the bed. There, I carefully removed my boots before crawling in the sheets. In this peaceful cocoon of warmth, I could hear my heartbeat slowly pulsing through my veins, hear the small and distant chatter of the students in the other rooms, … Progressively, as I unknowingly allowed tears to run down my cheeks, the noises became more distant and the light started to fade around me. Such a quiet and nice atmosphere.

***

- knock on my door wakes me up

- big guy standing there, invites himself in

- gives me the ring for shyn, and starts asking me about the travels, the reason behind it, where we’re headed, why, how did we discover the tower (I mention the map, but say that thorralien has it), he asks about other towers

- I end up not answering and he leaves frustrated

- I leave soon after, asking the butler to lead me to thorralien

- I get to thorralien, who’s talking with the girl

- the guy walks in too, to the relief of the girl

- thorralien asks the girl why she was trying to keep him there

- I just tell him that I’m hungry

- he keeps arguing

- I’m hungry

- the big guy tells him that he should listen to me

- thorralien is about not to when I say that he should follow that advice, afterall the guy wasn’t shy whatsoever to invite himself in my room while I was trying to get some rest

- the guy is flustered, thorralien mad, we leave for the cafeteria

- we find Cheryl in the cafeteria and kylie soon joins

- I explain what the guy did, to thorralien

- the group starts discussing about plans relating to what they’re supposed to do, the disappearance of paladin in the stars and all

***

I sighed and left the cafeteria, heading towards my room. I couldn’t focus anymore, I wanted to do some magic or something of the kind, this entire business of travelling was getting too complicated; I had to take some time on my own to figure out what this all meant.

As I reached the main hallway, voices caught my attention. One I recognized and another I had never heard before. Attentive, I soon recognized Shyn’s cold and awkward tone.

“What do you mean, Tiku’s dead..?” asked a voice that sounded more like a whimper than anything else.

Blood froze through my veins and I walked closer to the duo discussing. Shynthlara was talking to a really small girl curled up with a beautiful lion. The young human had her eyes filled of questions, apparently she had known Tikuris in a certain past. How terrible must it be for her to suddenly discover that her friend just—passed away in the middle of a fight?

“She—was killed by a drake during an attack 2 nights ago. She was on watch duty and by the time we woke up, she had already been fighting for a while. She didn’t survive their final acid blast,” explained the drow with a distance she should have been ashamed of.

Curling up some more in the comfort of her lion, the human looked miserable and lost. I had to admit that I felt the same. It had been quite a while since I had last seen anyone die and.. well the deceased were usually people of advanced age, not children like Tiku. Of course, she was the oldest of us all, but she looked younger than Thorralien. She was too young to die, young people were supposed to be immune to death, death was only a thing for the elderly and the unborn. Before I even realized so, my eyes had filled themselves with the waters of tears. Without thinking, I walked to the small human and took her in my arms, sobbing silently in her confused, but returned, embrace.

“Tiku fought bravely that night, she really defended us well. We just.. failed at protecting her in return..” I sniffled and took a step back, brushing off my tears in a single gesture before applying an attempt of a smile on my lips; “My name is Eiluvial, what’s yours? And how did you know Tiku?”

“The name’s Skullyana, I met Tikuris a few years back--”

“Forgive my intrusion, but the headmaster is ready to see you all,” said a voice. I jumped and turned around to see _____ standing behind Shynthlara.

***

- discussion with head master and monocle

- a guy recognized Cheryl, mandolin teacher

- try to describe the wizard

- come to the conclusion that it must be him, but it’s impossible

- the director talks to us about the huge tree in gorith

- we decide to head for there

- we learn that the students can’t go because you don’t find that tree when you look for it and you can only find it once in your life

- give the tiara to the headmaster for repairs

- the headmaster agrees to teleport us close to gorith and give us a monocle to communicate on Saturday nights

- he informs us that we’ll be leaving by the next morning

- we thank him and leave

- shyn takes skull away to talk to her in her room

- thorralien goes to talk to the girl

- I talk with the guy, 1 question, 1 answer. I explain a tad about the map, but stay vague with stuff related to symbols, I translated it, we’re a group travelling, we want to get back to our village because we fear that something might be up. He’s curious because he wants to get out of the tower and see the tree, he never really went to gorith, he asks that we stay in communication and I agree

- off to sleep

- get woken up in the morning and we head down for the teleportation

- tiara is given back, it increases electrical powers

- teleportation

- we arrive in gorith

- we stumble upon a group that just trapped a huge beast and its babies “Oi!”

- they recognize the princess of copper, supposed to be on exile, they tell us that shit went down in the tafled village, but don’t really explain more

- we ask them for a nearby village with horses, they guide us

- we thank them and go our way

- we get horses for everyone

- we rush to tafled

- we fight centaurs along the way (Cheryl desguises herself, I side step with the horses to give some place to the others, thorralien lends hits before we’re separated, dehydrating touch on a centaur, Cheryl damages as well, centaur dies, I shoot another one with snowball and make his veins explode in frost

- we get back on our horses and head off

In the distance the Tafled’s village finally broke the horizon, appearing to our eyes in the beauty of the sunset. Our hometown finally broke the regular wildness of the forest, a little piece of a Gorithian civilization in the middle of acres and acres of forest full of wildlife and giants. Stupid giants.. My heartbeat increased at the sight of my hometown. Apprehension? Happiness? I don’t really know why. From here, everything seemed to be alright, there was nothing to break the perfect structure of our hometown. The buildings were standing tall and strong, no corpses, no fires ravaging town—actually not really any fire at all. Alright, there were probably one or two still light up here and there, but that wasn’t normal. Tafled usually counted a good amount of fires ongoing at all time, for cooking purposes, to warm up the cold, to smoke the little fish we would find when we’d leave on long distance trips, and so much more. And now.. There didn’t even seem to be anyone really.

My hometown looked like a ghost village from here.

Anxious, I turned slightly to face Thorralien. A frown appeared on my face, I could just feel it. Was I just imagining things, getting crazy over something that wasn’t in any way truth, or was this really reality? It didn’t take long, just a second of scanning the barbarian’s face in hope of finding his usual calmness. Nothing of that was visible. Thorralien was as confused as I was about the condition in which the village standing of us truly was. This wasn’t the hometown we knew, something had happened and emptied the usually lively streets of our piece of home. Apprehensive, I tightened my grasp around the reins I was already holding and gave a firm nudge on the sides of my horse. I had to make sure that this was simply a dream and that everyone was alright. Perhaps the townsfolks were just in the woods, hunting or celebrating a recent victory we simply didn’t know of. Perhaps Eleonore had a vision of another holiday that everyone should celebrate? That was a possibility—right? As I started increasing my pace down the hill, I saw a black shape bypass me on my left. Thorralien was doing just the same as I was, he was trying to get to the village as fast as he could. He’d probably get there before me, he’d check around quickly and come back out with a stupid grin, saying that everyone was simply in the main hall.. Yes, he would.

Behind us, I hear the tapping of other horses speeding; the rest of the group was following. Poor them, they probably weren’t understanding anything whatsoever of what was happening right now. They’d probably blame it on the Gorithian blood, there was nothing to worry about; I’d just tell them that we were being silly because the town is alright.

At last, after what seemed like an hour, our group reached the last 200 meters before getting to the gate of the town. Suddenly, Thorralien stopped his horse without warning, surprising me and almost causing an accident. Thankfully, I halted my horse in time and joined the barbarian’s side. In front of us stood Eshe. The old lady with tired eyes was the previous oracle, the one that gave her place away 5-ish years ago. Reading the incomprehension and distress in our eyes, the old woman raised her hand slightly and stopped us from talking. Thorralien and I exchanged a fearful glance as the old lady took a deep breath.

“Everyone is gone,” she sighed helplessly.

- we stare at Eshe for a while

- thorralien rushes in town

- I follow

- all the warriors are gone, only elders, mothers with young children and pregnant women are left

- go back to eshe “what happened” “the chief changed since you left, he went north for 6 months, came back with a new sword and let aetherius aside” *walking towards the main hall “now aetherius is stuck in the stone”

- skullyana tried and fell on her ass. thorralien try to get the sword out, it budged. Skullyana turns the table into clay “Maybe that’s not the best way to get the sword” “it’s a hunk of metal” “it’s a magical sword, it won’t agree to such treatment and could decide to not be nice with you” “it’s just a sword, it’s not alive, it’s not human, so it can’t think” “well your lion is not human, can it still think?” “it’s not the same, he’s organic, a sword is metal” - thorralien puts the sword back in the main chair, so it’s fair (yeah, nope)

- small historic about the last 2 years, saying that the chief decided to stupidly go against the giants, in their own territory. Eleonore and Volver (a really good warrior of the tribe) tried to dissuade him, but it didn’t work

- we decide to go after them, but how, we don’t know where they are. Skull offers to track them by smell

- I go get some of eleonore’s clothing, find one of her coats. A paper falls from it with a correspondence between her and a certain marguerite

- go back to thorralien’s place

- skull got meat, thorralien found coats, shyn wandered off, Cheryl started playing, but no one paid attention, kylie walked around

- dinner time

- shyn explains that the arena was recently used, thorralien and her go check while eiluvial is off to get a coat for shyn (she is invited by elders to stay over)

- cooking session

- eiluvial walks back on an exhausted duo, gets jealous

- thorralien and shyntlara explain that they were attacked by rekreti (?) warriors

- Cheryl is extremely tired and goes to sleep

- eiluvial is really tired (okay fine, jelly), so she leaves

- she reaches eleonore’s house and realizes that there’s someone inside, she thinks for a second to go warn the others, but decides not to

- rainbow! Blinded! KO

- BLACK

- wakes up as the tiefling walks away

- dark house, no one around, hands tied

- burnt rope

- hydraulic push because fire

- drenched ==

- shyn says she’s there to help (hmhm sure yup)

- walks to the door

- tries to snowball the tiefling, fails

- tiefling blinds her again ==

- something rushes by, hit noise, wince, apparently the tiefling is ko

Volver- warrior

Letter, magret kiorn, old warrior, threw an egg at shyn thorralien and shynthlara are alone, again

“Let’s bring the Tiefling back to my place.”

I rubbed my eyes in discomfort and carefully walked towards the noise and voice. Apparently, it was Thorralien that had passed right in front of me with a blast of wind. He sure had gotten faster; he hadn’t run that fast when the aquatic being had attacked me in the cave where Shimmer was held prisoner. I clumsily half-tripped as I walked out the house by the door I had opened earlier. Curse this spell on my eyes. I couldn’t see anything what so ever right now and it was really bugging me. I guess that’s what people I blinded with my cloud of glitters experienced, in the middle of a fight. No wonder they always flailed so much and were having a hard time to cope with the on-going battle. That probably also explained why the enemies usually died before regaining sight.

I took another few steps, always keeping a slow and steady pace. Perhaps it would have been bright to keep one of my hands on the wall, instead of attempting to walk in the street like that, for no reason. To improve, next time I lose my ability to see. In front of me, Thorralien was starting to move the Tiefling, I could hear rocks moving and slight groans. I could also see a bigger shape lift a smaller one, with horns. .. see? Great! My sight was coming back, I could see shadows now. The duo was only a few meters ahead.

I stopped my progression a meter behind the barbarian. He had somehow managed to not kill the Tiefling and yet knocked her out; that was not something I had expected. Usually he was the type to kill. But hey, who was I to complain? We had to interrogate her, so it was better this way. At this point he already had managed to take the girl in his arms. “You’re going to interrogate her?” I inquired.

Thorralien turned around, as if surprised and looked down at me with a frown. He seemed surprised to see me there. Thankfully, he quickly shrugged it off, as the other members of the team joined. For someone who was really close, Shynthlara sure had taken her time, she had waited for Skulliana to be there, before walking up to us. Kylie was probably further away, she came by last and seemed to be cleaning her sword from the blood of individuals. Had the Tiefling brought more companions with her than the one I met?

From the corner of my eye, I saw something speed by in the distance. Jumping around from roof to roof, a small bird with large wings seemed to be having a hard time to focus on his destination and reaching it. “Have you seen that?” whispered the druid. I carefully nodded and looked up to Thorralien, he was trying to catch a glimpse of the bird, without any success. Shynthlara readied her weapon and positioned herself to fight. Could it be that the shadow I saw was simply a product of my imagination?

“There’s no need to panic,” I started, trying to rationalize, “it’s only a bir—“

A feathered helmet appeared out of the blue and raced down to hit the Tiefling’s head. I jumped in surprise at the attack and Thorralien also dropped the girl. “What the--?” he said, trying to scan the surroundings to find the little feathered being. In no time, the helmet had attacked and disappeared in the air. Visibly striking the girl on purpose, the little being soon reappeared and smashed her face a second time, causing a light bleeding to start. “It’s going to kill her!” I yelped in astonishment. Kylie and I started looking for a pattern in the attacking behaviour of the helmet, who soon came for a second and third rounds, to no avail. We couldn’t catch the thing. Skull soon joined the party and started racing after the small angel and jumping to catch it in the air, but it was quite sneaky.

“Amateurs,” said Thorralien, as he dropped the girl to the ground. He waited for the next attack of the small angel to grab his wings as it attempted to take off flight again. The helmet screeched and tried to flap his wings some more, but the grasp of the barbarian was a hella strong one. The being was forced to give up in no time, there was no way for it to escape now.

“I know what that thing is, it’s a Cassisian angel!” said Cheryl in excitement. I turned around with a start, where did she come from? I was sure that she was asleep at the moment, she was so tired after eating. “Cassisian angels are purely good beings, they really dislike the evil beings, so I doubt that it’ll stop attacking the horned girl until she’s dead,” explained the Halfling. How did she know all of that, I have no idea. To me, it simply looked like a golden helmet decorated with beautiful ornaments and bearing a set of large and beautiful wings. I guess they were angel-like in their own way. But Cheryl had brought an important point that I had to focus on; if the angel was to strike the demon until death ensues, we had to get them apart, and fast.

Thorralien observed the little angel with intrigued eyes; he seemed to be doubting the heavenly qualities of the little being. As he started going through the ornaments, probably in search for that little proof, I looked at the Tiefling that was now lying on the ground. We had to get her out of here.

I crouched down and started moving the girl, trying to pick her up so I would be able to carry her in my arms to Thorralien’s place; it was way closer than mine. The problem that I soon realized was that she was slightly taller than me and, unfortunately, heavier as well. So as I tried to pick her up, I soon found myself back on the ground, my legs stuck under her. I groaned in pain and took a deep breath before attempting to lift her up again. Seeing my pain, I think, Skullyana soon crouched down as well and started helping me to lift up the girl. “I have to bring her to Thorralien’s place, so the angel doesn’t smash her head,” I explained. “Got that,” replied the druid with a smile. That said, she started lifting the body with me, giving as much assistance as possible, to place her on my back. Before long, the Tiefling was on my back and I was ready to go. I thanked Skull and started waving at Thorralien, to tell him that I was heading off. Unfortunately, he was too busy to see my gesture.

Actually, he was trying to put the helmet on his own head. Before long, the being started screeching and the barbarian took him off in a yelp. I shook my head and started heading off, some days, Thorralien really was playing with his life over stupid matters. “Wanna try?” I sent a quick glance over my shoulder, wondering who the barbarian was offering the helmet to. Apparently it was Kylie. The paladin nodded and took the angel with a firm grip, to make sure that he wouldn’t fly off. “You do realize that this means that you will be taking off your helmet in the middle of the street, right?” mentioned Shynthlara with a smirk.

Kylie hesitated for a second.

Boy, she sure hated taking off her armor; I didn’t think that it was that bad.

After some silent additional seconds, Kylie finally nodded and brought the angel closer to her head. She took a deep breath and, in a split second, she switched helmet. Everyone stood there in awe, it really had taken her a split second to pass from one piece of armor to another one and no one had managed to see her face during that time. It sure was an impressive skill that she had developed through her years of being a faceless wanderer.

“Hello Sachiel,” she said. “What is your purpose in life?” she inquired. “What are you doing in the helmet?” One does not simply ask an angel why it’s shaped like a helmet. I shook my head with a helpless smile; I couldn’t hear what the angel was saying anyways, so might as well just go.

I turned around and started walking off again, at least the angel was controlled right now, he wasn’t dangerous anymore.

- My name is Sachiel // What’s your purpose in life? // … // What are you doing in the helmet? Where do you come from? // … // Do you want to stay here or do something?

- The wings start retracting, but then get out again and smashes the tiefling’s face

- Thorralien grabs it and smashes it on the wall, smashes again

- Humming is getting louder and louder “Oh yes, what are you gonna do about it, you stupid angel?” Thorralien tries to put it on, rages, but can’t. Kylie puts it back on.

- “Sachiel? Why are you doing this? // She’s evil // Okay, but stop being violent. // Evil is violent // Yeah, but we’re sorta transporting her // Hostages should not be taken. She’s evil. // and so on

I quickly sent a glance to the Tiefling that was lying on the ground. Any more impacts of the same style would probably end up killing her; she already seemed to be in a bad shape. She had most probably fought the other members of my group, before being smashed on a wall and knocked unconscious. We couldn’t lose this source of precious information like that, I crouched down and took her in my arms. The angel wouldn’t get her like that; I don’t care if she was bound to be our enemy. Someone’s bloodline doesn’t define who she is. With high levels of difficulty, I lifted the Tiefling in my arms. Geesh, I hadn’t realized earlier that she was taller, and henceforth heavier, than me. She was really hard to lift. Probably seeing my distress, and understanding the importance of our prisoner, Skullyana rushed to my aid. Together, we lifted the demon on my back and placed her so I would be able to carry her. “I’ll take her to Thorralien’s house,” I explained, “this way the angel won’t kill her and we’ll be able to interrogate her.” The human girl nodded in approval and took a step back. “See you soon.” I nodded with a smile and took off.

Behind me, the angel kept humming louder and louder. Oh how I was glad to not stay there.

- Humming grows louder and louder

(that I don’t know but, a pillar of golden fire hits thorralien in the face, from the helmet. Shyn is blinded for a few seconds. Thorralien drops the helmet, kylie grabs it and puts it back on her head. He repeats his same bs. Kylie sings a lullaby. )

- I get to Thorralien’s and tie the tiefling up

- Thorralien gets there, followed by the others, Kylie stays away “Go take a walk!” said Thorralien

- Thorralien wakes her up.

- “That was pretty stupid, wasn’t it.” She stares at me, basically saying fu

- Thorralien tosses me aside and puts her gag off “Who are you, what is your name and what are you doing here?”

- Thorralien, Cheryl and I get stunned

- Shyn stealths, Skull laughs

- Thorralien head buts her, she passes out again

- Cheryl tries to heal her, but she’s not conscious yet

- “Eiluvial, calm the barbarian!” “Don’t kill her, we need her!” “I’m not gonna kill her.” “Pass out, wakes up, pass out, wakes up. We need answers, stop that!”

- Thorralien goes upstairs, gets a pillow, pushes the tiefling on the pillow “There! Barbarian medics, best medics of all!”

(Kylie, ray of light  because angel, Fizban appears, cursing the barrels in which he fell during his teleportation. Kylie asks him what he’s doing here, “You didn’t have this body, last time we met!” talking at the angel “What are you talking about” Kylie. “You were just a helmet!” “You know the helmet?” “Think so, Sachiel, right?” “Yeah. Do you know more about it?” “Is this some sort of game? 20 questions type thing” “Well, I want to know more about him.” “What? Are we talking in 3rd person now?” “No-no. Actually I’m Kylie. Remember when we saved you from 16 cyclops?” “Hm, yeah, right! Hm—when was that?” “That place.” “Yeah, totally!” “So where are we?” “Gorith, Tafled tribe” “Oh man, I’m so far out.” “Where were you going?” “Hm 600km north.” “yeah..” “So what are you doing here?” “Well we just met this angel, I’m kinda trying to calm him down. Because he seems to be quite violent towards one of our captives.” “Yeah right, that bible passage.” “Yeah.” “You were with people before right—the guy with the sword? A-and was it the small girl with a mandolin or a small girl?” “Cheryl?” “yeah! The guy.” “…” “So, where are you staying? So I can crash there?” “Well.. if you can help, you can come to Thorralien’s place.” He is pleased. “I won’t lead you there, but I can tell you where it is.” “…okay?” “I’d rather not cause damage.” “Right. That’s why I prefer to wear hats that are strictly not sentient(?)” Sachiel was quiet for the whole convo and then says “I—don’t remember.. him..?” Kylie tried to find Sachiel’s memories. She can’t read jack shit, but he remember EVERYTHING.)

- Thorralien shakes her up again. She’s surprised and annoyed.

- “Not fun, eh? Dull mind is a tad stronger than yours” stare “So, you gonna speak?” she shrugs. “What’s your name?” “Olvala Daemonblood” Ranner clan. “what are you doing here? (e)” she points aetherius “I wonder” “How did you know Aetherius was here?” “Word spreads when weapons are not guarded”

- Skull understands on the side and understands that she’s desperate “She wants to dieeeeeee” sharpening her blade.

- Realize that Eshe hasn’t been seen in a while. “Have you seen Eshe?” she doesn’t know about the second oracle

- Thorralien puts the tiefling outside. Argument

- Thorralien drags her outside and ties her to a post outside.

- Kylie walks in “Hi guys” “Hey, you’re finally back!” “—have you seen Fizzband?” “what” “huh” “Who the f is fizzband?” “Yeah, I met him outside and told him that he wcould come over here.” “What? How?” shyn “He teleported” argumentttttt

- everyone goes to sleep, argument with thorralien. He agrees to watch over her. Thorralien, Shyn, Sir Buttons

- We wake up and she’s still there. She didn’t have restful sleep. “Slept well?” “F- u”

- Kylie still has helmet. She tries to make a pact. Angel agrees to stay

- We go north with Fizban. Thorralien-Eiluvial, Shyn-Olvala, Fizban has me horse, others are happy

I walked towards Thorralien’s horse hesitantly and looked up. He was looking down at me with a slight annoyingness in his eyes. I carefully smiled, trying to show him that it couldn’t be that bad, but the feeling was still there. I looked down and bit my lip, “you shouldn’t have to give up on your horse.” He whispered while giving me his hand. I shrugged and seized the help he was giving me to climb on. Poor horse, stuck with two riders.

I settled behind the barbarian and clung to his waist to not fall. This was actually comfortable. I nestled my face in the fur of his cape and yawned. “Thank you,” I softly mentioned. The barbarian chuckled and passed his hand in my hair, “no need to mention it.” With that he gave a small nudge to the horse and we started our progression towards the north. Next to and behind us, the other members of the team had started walking as well. We were progressing slowly, but faster than by foot. Fizban was happily riding right next to Thorralien and me, cheerful expression on his face, he seemed pleased with himself. I guess that finding yourself a party to head towards the place you wanted to reach in the first place, without having to pay them, and in the middle of Gorith is not something that happens that regularly. But what was he doing this far North anyway? 500-600km deeper in the lands of the giants and snow wasn’t your typical destination. He was quite a weird man, most probably not to be trusted.

I shook my head, it wasn’t the time to start doubting the members of the crew I travelled with. If the others had decided to agree with him joining the party, I had nothing to say about it. However, I am not sure that the others remember that today is Saturday and that I am supposed to communicate with the tower at sundown. Perhaps I should keep that hidden from the wizard for now, we have no knowledge about the nature of his motivations. A man that was cleaved in half in front of his group of friends couldn’t just be standing there, riding, as if nothing had happened. I would have to mention my concerns to Thorralien at the next break, he always had a better understanding of situations like this and would tell me if I was simply being stupid.

Behind us, the rest of the crew was riding silently. I guess everyone was on their guards regarding the presence of the Tiefling, Olvala. Shynthlara was in charge of watching over our prisoner. To do so, she had tied up the Tiefling to the back of her horse and was supposed to check every now and again to see whether she was asleep or not. We couldn’t afford to have that sorceress regain her spells. Truth is, I felt quite sorry for her, yes she had attacked us, she could have murdered me, but right now she was so helpless. She was simply lying there, exhausted, beaten up and dead eyed. I truly wished that we would be able to trust her before long, this way we could let her sleep and rest without fearing for our lives.

But she was our enemy and you had to make sure that your enemies couldn’t take advantage of you while your back was turned.

Behind this duo, the rest of the crew was following. Cheryl was riding her pony merrily, in the back. Skullyana was keeping close watch on the prisoner, that she originally wanted to tie behind her horse and let her walk for the entire path; and frequently exchanged glances with her lion. Where they communicating telepathically? Anyways. Kylie was closing the walk, obviously since she was our second best warrior. For now, she was talking to the angel helmet and probably trying to soothe it as much as possible to prevent confrontation. Time would tell us how efficient that was.

And so the group started its journey further north. I anxiously closed my eyes and started thinking, apprehending. I truly hoped that the Doran wouldn’t be as different as Eshe had said. If he was lost enough to leave Aetherius behind and not listen to Eleonore’s advice, the situation was probably more lost than anything I could ever imagine.

- bulette

- we pass by

-magus=negib

-dalamar=head

* monocle

-laurana

-skull + squirrel

-thorralien op kills the bulette

left the tafled village

got attacked by some bulette

then that night the tiefling got poisoned but the thing that poisoned her, a raven apparently, got away

skullyana followed the raven to a barbarian camp

and left

the next night they were approached by a man asking to talk with them

but he was evil af so kylie just woke everyone and there was a battle between them and the barbarians

thorallien died

the teifling died

the dude that approached them, who can shapeshift and teleport got aethurius

and then teleported away

that's where we're at

I headed back to Thorralien’s body with a calm I didn’t know I possessed. There he was, my protector, my first actual friend, lying on the ground. Slowly, calculating every move I made, as if to make sure that I wouldn’t wake him up, I grabbed his flair. Had the wizard not proved himself to be the worst asshole that had ever existed, I would have taken Aetherius, but oh well; his turn would come later. Unbalanced, I brought the weapon up and headed towards the frozen body of the barbarian I had killed. Oh how I regretted not making his suffering any longer. I stepped on his legs, filled with open gashes from which blood had tried to escape, when it was frozen and grew in volume. I should have killed him earlier in the battle.

I grabbed the flair and, with a strength I didn’t know I even possessed, I slammed the weapon in the man’s face. As the metal entered in contact with the man’s skin, electricity races through his body; burning up the already damaged organs that had kept such a meaningless being alive for so long. Not surprisingly, coming from such a dirty being, a terrible smell started meaning from his flesh. I think a part of his hair had also burnt in the process. Not that I cared what so ever. Unable to use my electricity this time, for the fight had worn me out, I slammed the flair on the human’s body another couple of times; filling his pathetic skin layer of holes and gashes. The mess of guts and blood lying at my feet was finally starting to look like the monster he was inside.

I stepped off the monster and walked back to Thorralien’s body, bringing the flair along. It was his after all, he had the right to get it back. But not in such a state. I would clean it before giving it back, or else he wouldn’t be happy.

With the same care as earlier, I grabbed my Gorithian brother’s sword. I couldn’t risk him waking up. The metal blade in hand, I headed back towards the monster. How funny, he was starting to attract the attention of animals and bugs. Poor little creatures who would eat him, they would probably be poisoned by his filthy aura. I had to slice this atmosphere around him. I took the sword and stepped in the lifeless body again, this time placing myself in order to face his extremities. And so the work began.

One after the other, I cut off his fingers, then his hands, arms, feet, lower legs, legs, … He would never be able to come back from the dead, he would never be recognized as one of the warriors of the gods. All he deserved was to return to the filthy hole he was from. Once completely torn apart, I finally sliced the man’s head off. There, now it was much better.

Covered in blood, I turned my back to the body and headed back to Thorralien. Oh my, I really had dirtied his weapons. I placed them together and drenched them both in water, with one of my spells, before starting to clean off the blood with my sleeves. Humming softly, I noticed my beige sleeves turn into dark shades of red I had never encountered before. Oh well, what was the point of staying clean-ish when there was no one to do it for. I had been so stupid up to now, always staying in the back of the group, to cast my spells from a distance. That was not how proper warriors fought, that was not how Thorralien fought. I had to go in the frontlines, I had some impressive spells for that as well.

I’d have to do that from now on.

''Please forgive me for my decision, Thorralien, but clearly, I am no longer the child you protected for a year or two. ''I looked down at the weapons. Oups. I had sliced my sleeve at some different spots and created holes here and there. Oh well. The metallic weapons were clean now.

I rolled up my sleeves and carefully gave them back to my partner. He really seemed to be simply asleep right now. If it wasn’t for the large gash in his chest right now, I wouldn’t have noticed the difference. Still humming to myself, I placed Thorralien’s clothes properly. Wait.. where was his bags of holdings? I raised my head and observed the group around me. Apparently, Cheryl was currently having the time of her life with the said bag. I growled, but I would do something about it later. I looked back down at the barbarian and took his gauntlets off. Obviously, they were too big, but they smelled like him and so familiar. I couldn’t let him go without keeping anything. No.. he wasn’t going.

Humming to myself and rocking back and forth, I stood watch for the whole night.

“Sov nu, lilla vännen min Dröm ett litet sinnes drömmar Vid elden stillhet råder Här ditt folk vakar över dig,»

I kept singing softly.

My eyes were burning at this point. Throughout the whole night I had watched over Thorralien’s body, making sure that no bad spirit would take his soul away, but also hoping that he would just start moving again. I had hoped for hours on end that he would start laughing and tell me that he was kidding, that this was all a joke and he was alright. But no matter the time passing, no matter the prayers that I addressed to Solinari, no matter how much I was ready to give in exchange, nothing happened.. And so the night passed by, at least I think it reached its end, because I could now observe shy hues of pink and orange color the dark blue of the sky. My first sunrise without him in forever.

I just wanted to dig my eyes out, I did not want to see such thing.

I slightly hiccupped and buried my face back in my knees, I could feel the tears trying to break out, to run down my cheeks, but to no avail; I couldn’t bring myself to cry.

Around me, my teammates were, for the most part, asleep; they had kept themselves busy for a few hours during the night and now were gaining back their strength. After stealing Thorralien’s bag, Cherryl had decided to go more on the sidelines and play some mandolin for a while. It was a wise choice, because had the girl stepped closer, I would have probably ripped her guts out, to get the bag back; it was Thorralien’s, not hers. On her side, Kylie had prayed her god for a while, as well. She had prayed for the salvation of the barbarian’s soul. As if paladin would answer her prayers; they were completely useless. She should have asked her god to bring him bag. The more gods, the better, no?

After a while, Kylie had decided to take care of the body of the Tiefling. She was starting to dig a hole for Olvala, when I told her that we burnt our dead and that she should respect our culture. Thankfully, the half-elf listened to my instructions and she burnt the other sorceress properly. For someone who had started off as an enemy, that girl had fought really well, during the night. She was really strong and could have, had he not been so far, probably saved Thorralien. Oh how I wish she had..

- Looking at team-ish Kylie wanted to bury the tiefling, told her she had to burn her Cherryl played soft music Skull sat next to me for a while Everyone slept at some point, but I kept watch

- I start making a huge pack of wood, as the other wake up

- While they’re eating, or whatever, I take his arm wrists and spark the fire (hair?)

- I stare at the flames until they start dying down

- Kylie ends up asking what we’re supposed to do          Cherryl wants to go south I say we head north, finish this quest so I can show the Doran how much of a morron he is

- Skull supports my claim, for the sake of the large animals of the north, Kylie for the tree, and Cherryl just agrees

- Kylie offers to go after the tribe that attacked us, because according to Skull, they have the angel helmet

- I agree on the conditions that we kill them all and resume our walk towards the Tafled after

- Deal

- We follow the tracks of the tribe

- We could set camp, but we keep walking

- At some point, we see 2 shapes in the distance, walking towards us

- I soon recognize Shyn, so I gallop to her Where were you?

- I try to jolt her, but I hurt myself instead. I start screaming and jump at her, blaming her for everything

- The knight in black armor next to her grabs me and holds me

- Shyn is confused, Kylie gallops to the resuce

- Kylie takes custody of me, while everyone is screaming in confusion

- I dehydrate touch Kylie, ‘cause that’s all I have

- Argument over Shyn’s custody, she is insulted

- Kylie lets go of me and I notice the sword on the guy’s back

- I ask for Aetherius

- He ends up giving it up to me, saying that I can’t wield it anyways

- Skull walks over and tells me that I can wield it          I pick it up

- Others keep talking and I notice that there’s a head on the guy’s side

- People talk about their plans

- I ask if he died slowly and painfully Attempt to get it and destroy it          Daronav refuses, claiming his kill I tell him that I did most of the job

- We come to the conclusion that he killed him after I caused a lot of damage No reason to keep going off track Kylie forgets about helmet

- WE head back north

- We camp I don’t sleep Daronav sleeps 2 hours Skull, Shyn, Cherryl

- Head back north and find dead bulette

- We get attacked by dire wolves and win

- Exhausted now and can barely walk

Keep walking the next day

Noting happens

Skull talks about losing someone to “if you need someone, im here” reply with “fuck you, dumb bitch im a special snowflake so you cant get me”

get forced to sleep(Skull, convinced Cheryl – lullaby spell)

Just before morning, get attacked by dire woofs again

One almost drags Count Tack away but skull uses bull strength so it can fight away, but too scared, so uss charm animal

Found dead bodies due to dire woof attacks(frosty extremeties, someone forgot to wear their winter stuff!)

Get to camp, they don’t recognize me

Guards learn I am the princess

Get inside, daronav intimidates guards so he does whatever the fuck he wants

I go to see eleonor, daronav followed

Eleonor is keeping something ot herself again, but damn it get the asshole away from me; mention aetherius, keep secrets so I leave, so toodles for now. Also mentions a guy who could replace the doran.

Talk with dunno his name while walking back, bitching the doran, saying that they will back me up if ever, then he leaves.

(Daronav goes to bar, runs into the antipaladin that wrecked the minotaur fomr the slavery episode, and they are “together”; he tells max to not interfere, but let Eileen do as she pleases “their plans take precedence over ours”, eventually skull joins up, while riding her woof. Everyone is dodging the fucker who took off his help with black fire and the dire woof rider and the paladin, so they drink together. Daronav mentions he used to follow paladine, but is now evil(took about an hour for skull to process it, at which point she dropped her beer) so yeah)

Everyone joins up and goes to sleep

We all get woken up to the camp picking up, even though the unnamed guy said they hadn’t moved in days due to wolf attacks.

Doran wanted to ride with me, so was summoned by the unnamed guy. The rest fothe merry band tried their best to follow and listen in, so skull heard about the wolf attack, and diagnosed giant hunters with frost dire woofs as the cause.

Went to confront doran, while kylie got talked to by eleonor, there was a survivor, that’s what lef skull to understand the thing before

Daronav came up to me, and bullied me into lending him aetherius for the time being “an unused weapon is not worth to have”, skull tried to bully him back but he has a 13 in intimidate the fucker so yeah…

Mae went like “well this was intense”